Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Ripples Through Time - 113

I'm reading every Aquaman solo adventure in publication order. After I read each story I will post the cover/splash page and a few thoughts on the story.

Want to read these stories yourself? Write to DC: Dan Didio, Executive Editor, DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York NY 10019 and ask for a reprint of Aquaman's Golden Age tales.

Adventure #189 Aquaman Splash Page
Adventure #189 (June 1953) - The Nautical Treasure Hunt!

A plane having engine trouble dumps all cargo, including a chest of diamonds, setting off a massive treasure hunt.

Finny Friends Report: Excellent splash page of Aquaman riding a swordfish. Aquaman rides his usual sea cow out to the location of the cargo dump. A dolphin helps him carry a diver to the surface. Three swordfish help him refill the chest.

Quotefile: Newsreporter, "...and the insurance company has offered exactly half the value of the diamonds to anyone who succeeds in salvaging the chest! Here's a chance for all you folks to go on a genuine treasure hunt!"

This is not a very intelligent plot on the part of the bad guys. They sabotage a plane while one of them is ON the plane, all in order to collect some insurance money? The treasure hunt, nicknamed "The Great Diamond Rush of '53", is a giant run of ill-equipped people that make the extremely nervous Coast Guard call in Aquaman to help monitor the crowd. Aquaman is badly needed, as people use homemade diving suits that get tangled in anchor lines, overbalance them out of control, and cause them to black out from going too deep without protection. He finally decides to stop the rush by offering to find the chest himself and split the proceeds with everyone in the crowd. And as it turns out, finding the chest isn't the problem. Finding the diamonds is.

Have you read this story? What do you think?

0 comments: